Ick? Please help!!!

[Sherry]

I have a 75g tank with live rock, live sand, and

• 1 yellow tang
  2 scooter blennies
  2 ocellaris clownfish
  1 baby fish that came on my live rock
  2 brittle starfish
  3 peppermint shrimp
  2 emerald crabs
  1 porcelain crab
  snails
  red & blue leg hermit crabs

I think my yellow tang has ick and I am not sure what to do about it. If it has ick it is in the early stages. I need your opinions, please.

I have been reading about reducing the salinity of the tank to 1.012 for 3 weeks.

Do you think this is safe for the rest of my tank inhabitants?
Do you have any better ideas?

I do have a quarantene tank but it is only a 10g so I think it would stress the tang if I put it in their.

 

[Anonymous]

Why do you think the tang has ich?
How long has your tank been set up and how long have you had the tang?

 

[Sherry]

It has very tiny white spots on both side fins and a couple on his tail fin. There very tiny and he is always moving so it is hard to tell but I really don't think they were there Saturday.

 

[Striknyne]

I would recommend a product called "Kick-Ich". I have a 29 gal with a maroon clown, a cinnamon clown, a royal gramma, & a cleaner shrimp (recently acquired). Once I added the royal gramma to the tank, i noticed a couple of days later that he was covered in white spots. It was recommended to me to use "kick-ich" and it actually worked. Granted it takes 2 weeks per bottle but it did the trick for my royal gramma.

 

[Anonymous]

I would suggest staying away from any reef safe ich medicine. They haven't been shown to work and the life cycle of ich makes it seem like it does. Also, the partial immunity that fish seem to develop makes it appear as if these products work, when in reality they don't.

The tiny white spots are difficult to diagnose - they could easily be detritus or bubbles. If the fish is eating well, I would keep feeding and see what happens in a few days.

Tangs often show signs of ich when initially placed in the aquarium, but never show it again!

 

[Sherry]

The tang was fine until I added my 2 ocellaris clownfish Saturday morning.
On Sunday I noticed my heater died (I replaced heater on Monday) and I thought I saw two teeny tiny white spots on his fins.
The tang is eating and swimming beautifully.

How long can I wait without jeopardizing everything in the tank?
And am I correct in saying only the fish can get ick?

 

[Sherry]

I have had the tank set up since February/March and I got the tang on April 3rd.

 

[Anonymous]

I agree with Righty...keep feeding and see what happens in the next few days.

 

[Anonymous]

Once you are sure it is ich, i too have used kick ich, as well as my lfs uses it. Never had a problem. It actually worked awesome! Never came back.
I would be scared to try hypo-salinity in an entire tank, but I have never tried it, so I can't and shouldn't comment.
And yes, as far as I know, only fish get ick.

 

[Sherry]

thank you everyone!

Any other opinions greatly appreciated.

 

[flanders]

i just got off of a hypo salinity treatment and you can expect to lose your shrimp, snails and brittle star if you play with the salinity.

also i just raised it and my flameback angel (the testcase fish) has some spots showing .. im waiting to see if it really is ick ... but as of this second i would be hesatant to say that hyposalinity works 100%

this is all personal observation though and could be total bull puckey

cheers

 

[ChrisRD]

Generally hypo treatment is done by isolating the fish in a hospital tank. Many inverts can't survive in low salinities, so it's not advisable to use the hypo treatment on your display tank.

 

[Anonymous]

Also a hypo treatment of 3 weeks isn't enough, needs to be more like 8-10 weeks. And it does work 100% if done correctly.

 

[coffeeisforclosers]

I have had good results doing a freshwater dip combined with hospital tank which uses copper. An otherwise healthy tang can handle 2-2.5 minutes in freshwater. Just make sure that the freshwater is the same temp as your tank water. After the "dip" put the tang in a hospital tank (that has copper) for a few days if you have one.

Cheers,
Dennis

 

[Anonymous]

Just make sure that the freshwater is the same temp as your tank water.

Same pH, too!

 

[Anonymous]

Here is my perscription


Keep the tank params stable. Light cycle set on a timer, feed at the same times(do not over feed!) Make sure your fish have plenty of room, not too crowded, and be patient. No chemicals to fix the ich, don't chase the fish with a net etc.

Stress is a killer. Fish in a tank are stressed easily, esp tangs since they are not captive bred. If toy keep the stress down, the fishes immune system will do the rest. I have seen this work in my own tanks. As long as the outbreak is small, as you have described, the fish can do the job from the inside.

The light cycle, temp, salinity, pH etc should be as close to the conditions in the ocean as possible. Sun up, sun down etc.

Stability in your tank can help you maintain a healthy tank.